The Economist Intelligence Unit survey shows some substantial differences in attitude between healthcare professionals in the US, UK and Germany and their counterparts in India. The 138 Indian respondents to the survey report all manner of improvements in the standards of their country's healthcare services. In sharp contrast to their colleagues in the US, UK and Germany, nearly 60% of Indian respondents say that since 2006, patient satisfaction with levels of care has improved, as has citizens' overall wellness.
Progress in India is a result of a combination of factors. Rapid increases in economic wealth of the country, coupled with an increased focus by government on healthcare infrastructure, have enabled quite dramatic increases in life expectancy of the population, from 37 in 1951 to almost 65 today. (Much of that increase can also be attributed to better standards of nutrition, a reduction in infant mortality rates and increased survival of children into adulthood.) In addition, the rapid expansion of the corporate sector has also gone a long way to make up for the limited investment made in healthcare by India's government. Government welfare schemes are a virtual unknown.
Respondents' attitudes in the other regions surveyed offer a marked contrast to India. German health professionals stand out as the least happy among the four countries studied. Less than 7% say that German patients' standards of care have increased in the last two years, and almost 68% point to a decline. More than one-half say citizens' overall wellness has declined over the same period, and a similar number say that the country has lost its ability to attract top-notch healthcare professionals. This last point seems to back up Germans' response when asked which country they would prefer to live in, based on its healthcare system alone. While US, UK and Indian healthcare professionals selected their own countries, German respondents said that they would rather move to Switzerland or Sweden than remain at home.
The German healthcare system, formerly championed as a model of success, is now burdened with bureaucracy and layers of complexity. German citizens now pay more for their healthcare than the citizens of any other European country, with the exception of France and Switzerland, yet Germans no longer seem to benefit greatly from the services provided by the system. In 2006, life expectancy in Germany was below that of Spain, France, Austria and the Netherlands.
In Germany, most employees purchase mandatory insurance from government-appointed sickness funds. As technology has become more expensive, and the demands of the chronically ill have risen, employee contributions to the schemes have risen dramatically. Today, the average deduction is 14% of income, and additional funds are provided by employers, which more or less match employees' contributions.
German citizens lay the blame for their high insurance payments directly at the door of their government, which they believe has been compelling health insurers to take on additional staff as a means of shoring up employment. This boost in staff numbers has occurred when the government has publicly called for greater productivity and belt-tightening by employers. The health sector is one of the biggest market segments of the German economy—about 5% of all Germans are employed in healthcare.
